Trump’s stand-in Zinke tours Camp Fire damage,...

1of 7California Governor Jerry Brown (left) and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke tour the rubble of Paradise Elementary School in Paradise, Calif. Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018 after the Camp Fire destroyed the school and most of the town.Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

3of 7Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC on Monday, Oct. 16, 2017.Photo: Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post via Getty Images

4of 7California Governor Jerry Brown and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke talk while touring the rubble of Paradise Elementary School in Paradise, Calif. Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018 after the Camp Fire destroyed the school and most of the town.Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

5of 7President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, watch performances during the National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony at the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017, with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, second from left.Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press

6of 7Gov. Jerry Brown, left, and U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, right, tour the rubble of Paradise Elementary School in Paradise on Wednesday. In the middle is Brock Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

“We’re very clever as Americans, and we need to pull together to make sure these communities like Whiskeytown and like Yosemite and like Paradise don’t get devastated,” he said. “This is unacceptable year after year after year.”

The Camp Fire, which ignited Thursday in the hills of Butte County, has spread across 138,000 acres, wiping out the town of Paradise while killing at least 56 people and destroying more than 10,000 structures.

Related Stories

Zinke, who has previously downplayed the role of climate change in intensifying California’s wildfires, acknowledged Wednesday that higher temperatures were a factor and noted the effect of the state’s prolonged drought in recent years on creating bone-dry tinder. But he also reiterated a common talking point of the Trump administration — that forests are too dense and need to be managed better.

“The density of trees is up. The amount of dead and dying trees is elevated,” Zinke said at the Silver Dollar Fair Ground in Chico, which is being used as a staging area for the Camp Fire. He spoke after touring the remains of Paradise Elementary School and other destroyed buildings with Gov. Jerry Brown, Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long and other officials.

On Saturday, Trump blamed forest management practices for the recent blazes, without noting that the federal government owns more than half of forestland in California.

“There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor,” Trump wrote in a tweet. “Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!”

There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!

It was a vast oversimplification of the problem. While clearing forests of heavy timber, including logging, would help reduce the fire threat in some places, much of the recent burning has taken place in grasslands and oak-studded prairie. Development in fire-prone areas has contributed to the devastation.

Fire experts say the bigger problem at work in the Camp Fire and other major fires in recent years may be climate change, which has created much hotter and drier conditions. Five of the state’s most destructive blazes have taken place in the past 10 years, according to state figures, with the Camp Fire taking the top spot.

Trump’s threat to withhold federal funding was vague, and on Monday he approved a disaster declaration clearing the way for aid to flow to victims and governments in Butte, Ventura and Los Angeles counties. He has also issued several tweets since late Saturday expressing sympathy for victims and first responders.

On Wednesday, the White House released a photo of the president on the phone, “receiving an update on the California wildfires.” During Zinke’s visit to the burn area, Trump tweeted, “Just spoke to Governor Jerry Brown to let him know that we are with him, and the people of California, all the way!”

Just spoke to Governor Jerry Brown to let him know that we are with him, and the people of California, all the way!

Trump’s friendlier tone seemed to resonate with Brown, who was less critical of the president than he was over the weekend, when his spokesman labeled the forest management tweet as “inane.” The governor confirmed Trump’s phone call and promise of support.

During his comments at the Chico fairgrounds, Brown reiterated that climate change was a major factor in California’s wildfires, but did not criticize the administration for its dismissal of the problem.

Kurtis Alexander is a general assignment reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle, frequently writing about water, wildfire, climate and the American West. His recent work has focused on the impacts of drought, the widening rural-urban divide and state and federal environmental policy.

Before joining the Chronicle, Alexander worked as a freelance writer and as a staff reporter for several media organizations, including The Fresno Bee and Bay Area News Group, writing about government, politics and the environment.